U.S. general: Iraq 'surge' likely to end in spring

[babylonsister]

U.S. general: Iraq 'surge' likely to end in spring
By Nancy A. Youssef | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Fri, August 17, 2007



WASHINGTON — The U.S military will begin pulling out the additional troops it sent to Iraq as part of the so-called surge next spring and will have completed their withdrawal by next August, the No. 2 American commander in Iraq said Friday.

Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno also said that Shiite factions now are producing nearly as much violence in Iraq as the Sunni extremist group al Qaida in Iraq. When the surge began, the military said al Qaida in Iraq was responsible for most of the attacks.

Odierno's comments likely reflect the thinking of Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, who's preparing a highly anticipated report to Congress on the progress of U.S. strategy in Iraq. That report must be delivered by Sept. 15.

"The surge, we all know, will end sometime in 2008, in the beginning of 2008," Odierno told reporters in a teleconference. "We know that the surge brigades will leave at 15 months, so that will be somewhere between April and August of '08 when those units will leave based on the 15-month rotation."

Odierno said it was possible Petraeus could ask for new troops to replace those units as they depart, but that "right now, our plan is not to backfill those units." He said the 28,000 troops that make up the surge had taken five months to deploy and would take about that long to bring home.

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/19040.html

[mr_hat]

1. "...backfill those units." Ugh.

[izzie]

2. I think it will be crazy time until Bush is out. Who are we fighting?

BBC said we were in a push on the Shia and Sunni.I guess we are just killing any thing that moves.

[BlooInBloo]

3. I.e., the Iraq war will never end as long as Bush is President. Yes, we know.